My buddy Neal sends out EMails to groups of people, and I am on some of his mailing lists. His EMails are usually interesting and sometimes very entertaining. At times I feel motivated to respond and because in responding I am, in fact, paying tribute to my buddy Neal, I reply to all, so that others can benefit from my comments and see how I honor my buddy Neal--or something like that.
One of Neal's address groups includes his cousin, Beth (mechandler@earthlink.net). Beth has a restriction on who can respond and have EMail actually arrive at her in-basket. The auto-response begins:
I apologize for this automatic reply to your email.The auto-response EMail then goes on to tell me how I can apply for approval. It includes an embedded link to an "Earthlink" website. Since I use "pine" as my EMail reader, up until I got my MacBook, that was a cumbersome operation, and I ignored it. But, with my new technology I actually did go to the link and put in the data and sent it off.
To control spam, I now allow incoming messages only from senders I have approved beforehand.
Alas, Beth is not interested in having me as a "friend," so my EMail has not been allowed to go through. That is fine with me. I am trying to avoid getting to 20 real friends anyway, so I have an excuse for not forwarding chain EMails.
My beef is with "Earthlink." Even Microsoft Outlook is smart enough to know when it has sent an out-of-office notification and does not continue to follow up. And thank God for that. You get one notification and then the system seems to remember. It may be that it is coded and deleted at the receiving end, but I would think that it could be done at the sending end also. I would think that "Earthlink" should be able to handle a simple problem like this. It would "remember" the EMail addresses to whom it had sent rejection slips and then compare future rejections to that list.
And to Beth Mechandler out there somewhere across the fruited plain, good luck and good night.
Regards -- Cliff
PS: Someone told me I needed a light hearted post once in a while. This is my first attempt. :-)
1 comment:
We did hear from Beth, if not from Earthlink.
Poor Cliff. . . .rejection is such a horrible thing and from a COMPUTER no less?!?!? You see "Beth" is off making lots of turns in the white fluffy snow and her Earthlink account feels duty-bound to suspect characters. . . .which could involve a friend of my dear cousin, Neal?!??! Hey, what can I say. . .it runs in the family. . .people get rejected for knowing me as well. At one point in time. . .in the distant past you were cleared for entry, but for whatever reason Earthlink had 'concerns' so there you have it. In the spirit of generosity, I'll try once again to grant this wish and I'll toss in a few spectacular turns in the snow for you tomorrow on the hill too :>)
Take care~
Beth
And our thanks to Beth for thinking of us while she is out making turns in the snow.
Regards -- Cliff
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